Substitute teacher ran ‘fight club’ during math class, police say

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MONTVILLE, Conn. -- A former substitute teacher was arrested Thursday for starting a "fight club" at a Connecticut high school, according to police.

Instead of supervising Montville High School students as they studied, 23-year-old Ryan Fish is accused of encouraging students in his class to fight while others watched.

Fish was arraigned in Norwich Superior Court Thursday on four counts of second-degree reckless endangerment, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and one count of breach of peace, according to the Hartford Courant.

“I didn’t realize what was happening at the time,” said Ryan Fish. “I didn’t have the training to know what was going on.”

State police believe otherwise.

Ryan Fish

“He’s not a certified teacher,” said Montville Resident State Trooper Sargent Mark Juhola. “It bothers me that so many teachers work so hard to get where they are and that this wasn’t a teacher but he was in that role.”

Juhola said Fish oversaw at least three scheduled fights last October involving five male students ages 14 to 16 .

Montville police began investigating after an injured student told a social worker he’d been beaten and robbed at school.

Police said cellphone video shows Fish encouraging the students and moving items out of the way so the teenagers could continue fighting.

After being confronted about the fighting on October 10th, 2017, police said Fish told the principal that “boys will be boys.”